THE way referee Barry Knight is going he won't be welcome in Lancashire before long.

He has been persona non grata in Bolton since issueing 12 yellow cards and two red and giving three penalties to Ipswich in last May's play-off semi-final.

Since Saturday the Orpington official has been less popular in Preston than a Blackpool derby hat-trick hero with the two red and four yellow cards he gave to their players at Nottingham Forest which left a fuming Preston boss David Moyes labelling him "biased" and telling him to stay away from Deepdale.

Moyes' first call came from Wanderers' manager Sam Allardyce who can never forget the part he believes Knight played in denying Wanderers a play-off final place last season.

I don't like blaming refs because they have proved themselves to be the cream of the crop to get where they are. But Mr Knight fails the acid test of a good referee - that he is never seen - and also that he does seem to go on card benders on occasions.